Lever-button.



E. B. SMITH.

LEVER BUTTON.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 1a, 1913.

1,74,905. Patented. 00t.7,1913.

1717/9775? Ezra 5. 57722771 by W EZRA B. SMITH, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LEVER-BUTTON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Got. *7, 1913.

Application filed February 13, 1913. Serial No. 148,135.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EZRA B. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Lever-Buttons, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to fastening together the meeting ends of two members, particularly two members of a piece of wearing apparel such as bands, belts and collars and has for its primary object to produce a simple device which may be used in connection with ordinary buttons and buttonholes to apply considerable power to draw together the two parts to be connected, make the connection secure, and facilitate the undoing of the fastening when it is desired to disconnect or unbutton the members which are fastened together.

My invention is particularly applicable to the buttoning of shirt collars of the type now generally worn by the male sex and, viewed in one of its aspects, the invention may therefore be regarded as comprising a collar button and buttoner which makes it easy to put on a collar the edges of which are intended to lie close together without danger of soiling or breaking the collar, which will cause such a collar to remain securely buttoned, and which will make it easy to unfasten or unbutton the collar.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front view of a collar having my invention applied thereto, illustrating the first step in fastening the collar; Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are views similar to Fig. 1, illustrating the second and the third step, re spectively, in the fastening or buttoning operation; Fig. 4 is a front view of the collar completely buttoned; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the attachment forming the subject of this invention; Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the front portion of the collar completely buttoned as shown in Fig. 4:; Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 5, showing a modification; Fig. 8 is a plan view of a still further modification; Fig. 9 is a side view of the device shown in Fig. 8 shown in operative relation to a collar button.

In the drawings I have illustrated my invention as applied to a particular type of collar and, for the sake of simplicity I shall confine the detailed description to the particular arrangement illustrated; but it will of course be understood that my invention is not limited to any particular type of collars or even to collars of any kind as it may be used to advantage in many situations where two members are ordinarily buttoned together as well as in connection with other things which it is desired to fasten together cletachably.

Reference being had to the first six figures of the drawing, 1 represents a collar comprising an inner portion having at its ends flaps, 2 and 3, adapted to be overlapped, these flaps extending beyond the ends of the outer turned-down portion, l. Collars of this type are fastened in front by providing the overlapping flaps with registering button holes through which is passed a button carried by or passing through the shirt band. In many of the styles of collars of this kind it is the intention to have the front edges of the turned-down portions l lie very close together and, in any event, these edges must lie near enough together to permit the outermost of the two flaps to he slipped well in under the downturned portion on the opposite side. This makes it difficult to button the two flaps together, the difliculty becoming greater as the gap at the front of the closed collar diminishes, collars being very often soiled or broken in the act of putting them on.

In accordance with my invention I have provided a simple attachment which permits one of the flaps to be buttoned in the usual way upon a collar button while the other is buttoned upon the attachment which is in turn detachably mounted on and movable relative to the usual collar button so as to serve as a lever by which the loose end of the collar is drawn in place, and thereafter locked in place, and which, by a reverse action releases the loose end of the collar freely and thus permits the collar to be unbuttoned without requiring a button to be pulled out of a buttonhole while the collar is under tension.

ous forms.

small elongated fiat plate, 5, of suitable metal. In this plate is an elongated slot, 6, extending lengthwise thereof and having enlargement, 7, at one end. The enlargecl endof the slot preferably lies at a considerable distance from the corresponding end of the plate, this portion of thezpl'ate determining the initial length of the lever arm through which power is applied in the buttoning operation. --'Llhe opposite end of the plate'is foldedinwardly upon itself as indicated at 8, enough space being left between the inwardly-proj ecti'ngear thus formedand the body of the plate to permit the head of an ordinary collar button whose shank lies in the slot 6' to pass beneath the ear. The slot '6 extends far enough toward the upturned end or the plate to bring a port-ion of the slot beneath the ear and just above the end of the slot-,prefe'rably at the extreme end is a button 9, w'v'h-ich will be practically coaxial with a collar "button lying in the adjacent end of the slot 6. At the other end of the plate there is a hook-or shoulder, 10, projecting outwardly from the same side as the ear 8 on one of the long edges of the plate. 1

In using the device, theflap 2 of the collar is first buttoned uponthe usual collar button ll-as indicated in Fig. 1 and the flap 3 is buttoned upon the button 9 on the at tachment. The main collar button is then slipped through the enlarged end, 7 of the slot in the attachment so that the condition of the parts is 'as'shown in Fig. 1. It will i be seen that there is nostrain on the collar 3 at the time the flap 2 is buttoned in place and neither is there any strain on the collar at the time the flap 3 is but-toned to the attachment. The buttoning of the attachment to the main collar button is accom plished while the front edges of the collar are separated perhaps an inch or more, depending upon the length ofthe slot, so that the button'ingof the'atta'chment on the main collar button is easily accomplished.

7 With the parts in the positions indicated in Fig. 1, the end of the attachment at which the hook I0 is placed is grasped and drawn outwardly and at the same time laterally to a slight extent so as to bring the.

shank of the main'collar button into the main portion of the slot. The attachment, fulcrumed on the shank of the main'coll'ar button serves as a lever to draw the two ends of the'collar together and, asthe two ends of the collar approach each other, the leverage increases'so that the greatest leverage is available at the time the collar is naturally brought under the greatest ten sion, namely when the button 9 is in proximity "to the button 11. It will be seen that the pull on the loose end of thecollar is a straight pull toward the main collar button, that is, in the circumferential direction, there being no lifting or pullingdown of the loose end of the collar as it is drawn into position. When the attachment reaches the vertical position shown in Fig. 2 the shank of the main collar button has been brought into the extreme end of the slot just behind the collar button 9 and thereafter, unless it should be desired to have the'col'lar button slightly eccentric in the final closed position, no further movement of the loose further upward movement of. the attach ment' is prevented. The free end of the attachn'ient is prevented from dropping down from the position shown in Fig, 3 by the person orclothing of the wearer just at the base of the neck. The flap 3 which still lies on the outside may now he slipped under the opposite side of the collar so that the completely buttoned collar has the ap pearance illustrated in Fig. 4. \Vhen it is desired to take the collar off, the free end of the attachment is grasped and it is swung around in a clockwise direction until the parts assume the positions shown in Fig. 1,

the strain on the collar being entirely released and the unbutton'ing of the attachment from the main collarbuttonbeing simple and easy.

Instead of carrying the auxiliary collar button on an up-turned and' in-turned ear as shown in Fig. 5, the auxiliary collar button may be carried directly upon thebody of the plate as indicated in Fig. 7 the plate 12 in this figure having the slot denlarged.

the two collar buttons will be slightly out of alinement with each other.

In Figs. 8 and 9 I have shown athird arrangement which has some features in common with the other two forms. Iteferrin'g to these-figures 14 represents a small fiat plate having a hole, 15, through which the head of an ordinary collar button 16 may be slipped. A lever 17 is pivoted on the plate, as at 18, at one side of the hole. On one end of the lever is an auxiliary collar button, 19, while on the other end is a laterally-projecting hook or shoulder, 20, corresponding to the member 10 in the other two forms. In using this device, the first flap of the collar is buttoned in the usual way; the second flap is buttoned upon the button 19; the plate is then slipped over the main collar button; and the lever is swung around in a counter-clockwise direction through an angle of 180 degrees so as to bring the auxiliary collar button in front of and approximately in alinement with the main collar button. The parts are preferably so proportioned that when the collar is in its closed position the axis of the auxiliary button lies slightly below a horizontal plane containing the pivotal axis of the lever and conse quently a pull on the loose end of the collar tends to swing the lever still further in the counter-clockwise direction and, since the shoulder or hook 20 is in engagement with the lower edge of the inner member of the collar and such further swinging movement of the lever is thereby prevented, the parts are positively locked in position.

I claim:

1. A device of the character described, comprising a plate having one end bent back upon itself to form an ear spaced apart from the body of the plate, a button carried by said ear and said plate having an elongated keyhole slot extending along the same from a point approximately beneath said button.

2. A device of the character described, comprising a plate having one end folded back to form an ear separated from the body of the plate, a button on said ear, a shoulder projecting from the opposite end of the plate on the same side as the ear, and the plate having therein a keyhole slot extending from a point approximately beneath the button to a point considerably removed from the opposite end of the plate.

3. A device of the character described,

comprising a plate having one end bent back upon itself to form an ear spaced apart from the body of the plate, a fastener carried by said ear and said plate having an elongated keyhole slot extending along the same from a point approximately beneath said fastener and narrower at the end he neath the ear than at the other end.

4. A device of the character described, comprising a plate having one end folded back to form an ear separated from the body of the plate, a fastener on said ear, a shoulder projecting from the opposite end of the plate on the same side as the ear, and the plate having therein a slot extending from a point approximately beneath the fastener to a point considerably removed from the opposite end of the plate.

5. A device of the character described comprising a body member having an elongated slot extending lengthwise thereof, a projecting button on one side of the body member near one end of the slot, and a lateral projection on said side of the body member at some distance removed from the button.

6. A device of the character described comprising a plate having an elongated slot extending lengthwise therein, a projecting button on one side of the plate adjacent to one end of the slot, and a projection on said side of the plate at some distance beyond the other end of the slot.

7. In combination, a headed button, a member having an auxiliary button at one end and a lateral projection on the other end, and means for detachably mounting said member on said button so as to permit said member to be swung in the plane at right angles to the button and bring the latter and the auxiliary button into approximately axial alinement.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

EZRA B. SMITH.

Witnesses WM. F. FREUDENREICH, RUTH E. ZETTERVALL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

1 Washington, D. G. 

